FIDE Grand Prix Astrakhan 2010
The FIDE Grand Prix took place in Astrakhan, Russia Sunday 9th May 2010 - Tueday 25th May 2010. The tournaments were held at Jermuk in Armenia, Baku in Azerbaijan and Sochi, Elista, Nalchik and Astrakhan in southern Russia. Prize money in each tournament amounted to €162,000 and there was €300,000 for the final Grand Prix standings. Aronian won €75,000 for overall victory while Radjabov took home €50,000.
Pavel Eljanov took clear first place with 8/13. Teimour Radjabov joins Levon Aronian as the qualifier for the Candidates from the overall standings of the Grand Prix.
The fate of the first place was determined quite quickly - the Ukrainian grandmaster secured his victory by making a draw with Boris Gelfand. However, the struggle for the qualification ticket continued until the last minutes of the competition.
The contenders, Wang Yue and Radjabov, met in the last round, and the Chinese grandmaster needed to win the gme in order to qualify.
Wang Yue was a pawn up, but Radjabov defended resourcefully and managed to make a draw, which gave him the second place in the overall Grand Prix standings.
Another qualification ticket went to the winner of the Grand Prix series - Levon Aronian from Armenia. Eight world's strongest players will compete in the candidates matches later this year, and the winner will challenge the reigning World Champion Vishwanathan Anand.
Pavel Eljanov collected 8 points in 13 games and finished a clear first. Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Dmitry Jakovenko, Evgeny Alekseev (both - Russia), and Teimour Radjabov tied for the second place with 7 points each.
Games of the tournament- Astrakhan 2010.

